Are Investment Dividends Important?

How important are dividends in the S&P 500’s total returns?

In a word, very. Dividend income has represented roughly one-third of the total return on the Standard & Poor’s 500 index since 1926.*

According to S&P, the portion of total return attributable to dividends has ranged from a high of 53% during the 1940s–in other words, more than half that decade’s return resulted from dividends–to a low of 14% during the 1990s, when the development and rapid expansion of the Internet meant that investors tended to focus on growth.*

And in individual years, the contribution of dividends can be even more dramatic. In 2011, the index’s 2.11% average dividend component represented 100% of its total return, since the index’s value actually fell by three-hundredths of a point.** And according to S&P, the dividend component of the total return on the S&P 500 has been far more stable than price changes, which can be affected by speculation and fickle market sentiment.

Dividends also represent a growing percentage of Americans’ personal incomes. That’s been especially true in recent years as low interest rates have made fixed-income investments less useful as a way to help pay the bills. In 2012, dividends represented 5.64% of per capita personal income; 20 years earlier, that figure was only 3.51%.*

Note: All investing involves risk, including the potential loss of principal, and there can be no guarantee that any investing strategy will be successful. Investing in dividends is a long-term commitment. Investors should be prepared for periods when dividend payers drag down, not boost, an equity portfolio. A company’s dividend can fluctuate with earnings, which are influenced by economic, market, and political events. Dividends are typically not guaranteed and could be changed or eliminated.